Sermons by Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall (Page 14)
Come Thou Unexpected Jesus
Photo by Visit Greenland @ pexels.com Titus 2:11-14 Luke 2:1-14(15-20) I’ve been particularly enjoying the Christmas music this year. On Sunday, Ann Lucas our musician played an arrangement of the hymn “Come thou long-expected Jesus” and my friend Jill was interested to realize that this was the same melody that we use for another hymn. As she was chatting about it she kept saying, “Come thou Unexpected Jesus” and I kept correcting her – “No, no,” I said, “It’s come…
Love
Picture by Carlos Quintero, unsplash.com Matthew 1:18-25 Love. It’s the reason for the season. It’s the center of the Christian narrative. Not sin nor guilt nor judgment but incredible love. Creation has been described as the pillow-talk of the Trinity. We were conceived in love and created in love and we are nourished in love. Here are some of our central understandings: “For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten-son that all who believe in him…
Joy!
Photo by Delfino Barboza @Unsplash.com One of the ways that I know there is a long way ahead of me on the spiritual path is when I see holy men like the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu laugh. These are people who have experienced great suffering both personally and as part of an oppressed people. Yet they can laugh and laugh. It seems that joy is the mark of a child, and also of a spiritual master. It is…
Peace
Photo by Alice Donovan Rouse@unsplash.com Isaiah 11:1-10 Matthew 3:1-12 What does peace look like? When you imagine peace what does it look like or what does it feel like? Today’s reading from Isaiah gives us a lyrical if unlikely image of peace, The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze,…
Hope
Photo by Kelly Sikkema @ unsplash.com Isaiah 2:1-5 Romans 13:11-14 Matthew 24:36-44 I read in the news this morning the sad story of Ron, a man in Maine, who rigged a pistol in his front door so that anyone who tried to enter would be shot. Unfortunately, he made a mistake – I don’t know the details – but on Thanksgiving he walked into his own booby trap, was shot by the pistol and later died of his wounds. This…
Reconciled
Today we celebrate the Reign of Christ! This is the last Sunday of the Church’s year so today we remind ourselves that at the end of time everything will be brought into balance, the earth will be redeemed, Creation will sing for joy, the dead will be raised and we all get to live happily ever after! So it’s a bit jarring to hear the gospel reading from Luke where Jesus is hanging on the cross being mocked -this is…
A New Earth
Note: the audio starts in the middle of the sermon, about para 5 Isaiah 65:17-25 Luke 21:5-19 In today’s gospel reading, Jesus talks about the troubles that are to come. Scholars have often thought that this, and its parallel passages in the other gospels, were probably added later, after the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple in the year 70 CE, with words kind of put in Jesus’ mouth. That may be the case, but in the…
St Benedict
Photo by Danna Joy Images Luke 14:27–33 Today we are celebrating our patron saint, St. Benedict. Just as a quick reminder, Benedict was born towards the end of the 5th century, the son of a wealthy Italian family. He was sent to Rome to study, but found life in the city to be self-indulgent and immoral, so he retreated to the countryside and on the advice of a monk became a hermit, and lived in a cave for three years.…
Grateful
Photo by Timothy Eberle @unsplash.com 2 Timothy 2:8-15 Luke 17:11-19 The grateful Samaritan – the one person who comes back and thanks Jesus is a foreigner. This is great gospel reading to have in our Season of Gratitude, with the Gratitude Dinner coming up this Friday and the celebration of St. Benedict, our patron saint, next Sunday. So let’s start this morning by thinking about things we’re grateful for. I’m grateful for the Saturday night eucharist, for coffee, for my…
St. Francis
Francis preaching to the birds, Painting by Giotti, 13th century Today we celebrate St Francis Day. There are three things that I associate with St Francis: his connection with birds and animals his church reform movement which became the Franciscan order and included taking vows of poverty the understanding that Christ is in all of creation You may remember the story of how Francis had a mystical vision in the forsaken country chapel of San Damiano, just outside Assisi, in which the Icon…